Obama campaign deputy adds to Libya partisanship

Stephanie Cutter joins "political circus" over embassy attack, which she blames Romney and Ryan for creating

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October 12, 2012 12:39AM (UTC)

In a furthering of partisan politicking over September's Libya consulate attack, Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for President Obama, blamed Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan for making the attacks in Benghazi a "political topic."

During a CNN appearance Thursday, Cutter said that "the entire reason that this has become the, you know, political topic it is is because of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan ... It's a big part of their stump speech." She went on to lambaste Ryan for making the tragedy a "political circus."

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Critical responses emerged on Twitter within minutes. Fox News analyst Monica Crowley tweeted, "can't get much lower than the despicable [Cutter]." RNC Spokesman Tim Miller wrote that Cutter's comment belonged "in the annals of people believing their own BS." Meanwhile, journalist and author Jeremy Scahill lambasted "partisan cogs" in general:

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For weeks now, as Salon has noted, partisan spats have characterized the discourse in Washington over the embassy attack in which Ambassador Christopher Stevens was killed.

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Watch Cutter's CNN comment below:

Natasha Lennard

Natasha Lennard is an assistant news editor at Salon, covering non-electoral politics, general news and rabble-rousing. Follow her on Twitter @natashalennard, email nlennard@salon.com.